Improving a community preceptorship through a clinical faculty development program.

Abstract

A department of family and community medicine has successfully used annual conferences to develop the teaching skills of clinical faculty. The conferences focus on specific topics each year, faculty are required to attend, and experienced preceptors are used as facilitators. These conferences have effectively improved the preceptors' abilities as teachers of medical students. This is dramatically illustrated by the increase in measurable objectives on the negotiated learning contracts.